The WeChat official account has recently undergone many updates, such as the upgrade of the official account’s graphic and text messages, the change of the subscription account’s display map, etc. These changes have brought a lot of impact on WeChat content creators. What should content creators do in the future? ? Let's take a look with the editor.
1. The official account keeps changing
Before you start, take a look at these three changes in the official account. Have you noticed? Is traffic affected by these?
1) The image message function of the official account has been upgraded
2) The subscription account shows a large image and the image is reduced
3) Public domain traffic recommendations are added to articles on the official account
On February 16, WeChat's official account "WeChat Pai" posted a tweet: "Today, let's meet in another way." The new way of sending text messages is refreshing. The 9 pictures can be swipe left and right on the mobile phone, but not on the computer. Below the pictures are titles and text content, and directly leave a message in the lower left corner to interact with the account owner.
Image source: WeChat official account
For the short content of the updated official account, you can upload up to 9 pictures at a time, and the picture display ratio is 3:4; the copy is expanded from 140 words to 1000 words; you can fill in the title, but you cannot mark the original or add the author. At present, this function has been fully launched on the PC side, and the subscription account assistant app is still under development.
Image source: Screenshot of WeChat public account
For the operation process of detailed graphic and text message push, you can find the watermelon data video number to view it.
Previously, at the beginning of February, the big picture displayed on the subscription account was quietly turned into a small picture. This change also caught content creators by surprise.
Before the revision, all subscription accounts were presented in the way of [headline big picture + sub-picture small picture]. After the revision, all subscription numbers without stars will be displayed in small pictures, even if the news received after subscribing is also a small picture.
In this regard, WeChat officials have not announced specific criteria for judging. According to feedback from readers, the subscription accounts that were opened within this week were also judged to be displayed as thumbnails. It can be seen that the new standard is not only about "recently opened", but also about "reading frequency". The only thing that is certain is that after the subscription number is marked with a star, the headline will display a big picture.
Image source: WeChat
The big picture of the official account has the effect of attracting users' attention. After the revision, various official accounts frantically beg users to star their own official accounts in order to maintain their own reading volume, which adds difficulty to the operation of official accounts.
In the past, most of the article traffic of official accounts came from private domains. Recently, it has been found that the reading volume of many small and medium-sized accounts has surged, most of which come from public domain recommendations of official accounts. Users who do not follow official accounts can also see articles recommended official accounts .
There are 2 recommendation positions in the public domain of the official account article: "Take a look" under the article and "Take a look" under the subscription account.
After the user reads any article and likes it or clicks to watch it, the system will recommend 3 related articles, which are usually official account articles that they have not followed. The user opens the subscription account to view the articles of the accounts he or she follows, and "Take a look" will appear later, and the recommended articles are the accounts of the accounts that have not been followed.
Image source: WeChat public account
This change has increased the public domain traffic entrances of official account articles, and is no longer the previously closed private domain.
So what impact have these changes brought to content creators, such as the upgrade of WeChat official account graphic and text messages, the revision of subscription account version, and the increase in traffic sources of official account articles?
2. More opportunities or more difficulties?
These changes in the WeChat official account have aroused widespread discussion. Some people think that these changes have brought more opportunities for content creators, while others think that these changes have made it more difficult for content creators.
As soon as the WeChat public account picture message was updated, some netizens said: "What's the difference between this and Little Red Book? Is this [Little Green Book]?" The little red book whose content has been developed is unknown to everyone now.
After making up the short content of the class, not only Xiaohongshu will be "injured", but also the creators of the long content. Picture messages can directly display large pictures on the message page of the subscription account, so the recent changes in the display method of the header image of the subscription account can also be understood as WeChat’s preference for short content. Subscription account messages show that the big picture becomes small, which will weaken the traffic of the head account, and it is not friendly to the account that attracts users with the head picture.
Of course, these changes have also brought about many good effects. WeChat’s short content and the added recommendation function are more friendly to new accounts. Now you can still seize the opportunity of WeChat’s changes and enter the official account.
Content creators are only a small part of the entire WeChat ecosystem. The change of the official account may be more about the experience of ordinary users. For the entire platform, improving the overall reading efficiency may be the purpose of the revision.
The traffic of the entire official account is no longer concentrated on long content push and private domain traffic. The recommendation of public domain traffic and the increasing proportion of short content development have lowered the creation threshold for content creators and increased the number of readers and readers. The channel of the number of fans is also helpful to obtain traffic revenue.
It has never been a simple matter for content creators to compete for the internal attention of official accounts and to seize the traffic of the entire network. The constant changes of official accounts may be a challenge or an opportunity for content creators.
3. What should content creators do?
The constant change of the WeChat official account is an established fact, and the rules of the platform cannot be changed. Perhaps we can only embrace the changes and do what we can within the rules. Here are some tips for content creators~
(1) Content is king and still not outdated
For content creators, no matter which platform they are on, good content will never be outdated, and they need to be hardworking themselves. This cannot be overemphasized no matter what the platform changes.
(2) Accumulate and summarize practical experience
After the revision of the official account, we found that in the public domain traffic recommendation of the official account, the account with the higher degree of originality is easier to enter the recommendation pool. Of course, the recommendation is also related to the account registration time. Old accounts are relatively difficult to be recommended, and new accounts are easier. Therefore, if an old account wants to be recommended, it is necessary to maintain the originality of the entire account and operate it for a period of time to observe the effect. It is difficult to get recommendations for reposted accounts, and they can only be monetized by their own fans.
Also, when recommending related articles, capture keywords according to your own field, and then use them in the article, which is also helpful to improve the recommendation of the article.
(3) Take into account both explosive models and popular content
If you want to rely on the official account to monetize, purely popular models may bring traffic but not necessarily retain fans. If you want to have more monetization methods, such as accepting advertisements, bringing goods, paying for knowledge, etc., you need to have loyal fans who are willing to read every article of yours. In the layout of pushing articles, not only hot content is needed to attract users, but also content to retain users is needed.
4. Conclusion
In the face of changes in the official account, content creators must comply with the rules of the platform on the premise of ensuring the content, and are also reshaping themselves in the process of seeking change. Only by constantly stepping out of the comfort zone and striving for perfection can they keep up with the pace of development. will be eliminated.
The above is the whole content of this issue. Welcome to the comment area to discuss together.